Sisters

Two of my best friends are getting baptised tomorrow. They both came from China in august 2006 (less than 1 year ago) and didn't know anything about God (or any kind of god) back then. Their stories are amazing. I got to know them right after they arrieved in the States, and got to see how God worked in their lives. It's indescribable. They are also the sweetest girls and my "younger" sisters. And when i say sisters, i don't just mean the theoretical term, i.e. we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. We're very close. It's hard for a Chinese to open up to people, esp to folks from other cultures. Knowing them was GREAT because it happened in a time when i was hearing a lot about "adapting church/theology to the culture", something that usually makes me uncomfortable. We clicked right away and i never had an awkward moment with them, we've always been very honest to each other. This strengthened my faith so much, and i praise God that He used that for making Romans 1 so real to me (that He has put His law in the hearts of all men). My sisters are not afraid to ask me questions about anything, which is another awesome thing, giving the way they were raised.

And tomorrow they are getting baptised! I don't remember being so excited about anything in a long time. Yesterday we hung out and they said they are just as nervous as they would be before they would get married. They feel the same way as before a wedding. SO CUTE !!

One of the most interesting things we've been talking about during all these months, when they started coming to church and got to know about God was God's plan and God's character. They got to hear a lot about God's love and mercy, but not so much about His justice and wrath, which are too, i think, things to praise Him for. I LOVE the fact that God is just, as i've always hated unjustice. His whole character is awesome and perfect, but people emphasize some aspects of His character more than others. So as i was talking to my sisters, one of the question i got the most was : "isn't God unfair?" (the best example would be Rom 9:16-26; even though we never started there, i made sure we eventually got there :) ). Yes. But i have to switch perspectives and think about God's wisdom (as in Rom 11:33-36). The fact that the perfect son of God was crushed for all my sins is unfair. I love the fact that i don't understand God perfectly. I love that He's so much greater than me. I love that He's perfect and i choose to submit to Him, especially when i don't understand/agree, because He's the Only One who ALWAYS keeps His promises and one of them is Rom 8:28. If i'm going to worship someone, it's going to be someone perfect.

PS: I LOVE my sisters!!

Currently listening: Toby Mac - Made to love

Under the cross

Who has believed what they heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.